young americans

This research is interesting – in a survey of American Muslims, the young are both more devout and more radical than those over 30. For instance, 60% of those in the 18-29 age group thought of themselves as “Muslim first” rather than “American first”, whereas only 41% of those in the 30+ age group said the same.

Perhaps more worryingly, 15% of the younger group said suicide bombing was sometimes justified, whereas only 6% of the older group said so.

The 18-29 year olds would have been aged between 11 and 22 when Bush II came to power, and 12-23 when the September 11 attacks took place. For some reason the young seem to be increasingly sympathetic to fundamentalist Islam, rather than being put off by the murder of civilians in the name of religion. Possibly Iraq and other foreign policy blunders have something to do with it. Possibly the demonisation of Islam hasn’t helped, either.

As the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee spokesman remarks, it is not suprising that

Muslims find it harder to live in America since the Sept. 11 attacks. And they are justifiably suspicious of the U.S. government, she says — as evidenced by the number of complaints of discrimination and racial profiling her group has received.